The Christ of the Cosmos (Psalm 148)

How do we view the universe? The obvious message of this psalm is that the author regarded the whole creation as being involved in the praise of God. Obviously different types of creatures worship him in different ways. Yet the question must be asked, ‘Why are these different creatures to praise him?’ The psalmist gives the answer in verses 13 and 14. The reason for their praise is connected to what he does for his people.

Looking at verses 13 and 14 we can see that what he did for Israel was to provide a ruler for them, and this ruler was the focus of their praise because their nearness to God was connected to him. Who was this ruler? Maybe the author was referring to David whom God raised from obscurity and made the first of a line of kings who were linked to the Lord’s plan of mercy for his people. Or maybe the author was thinking about Solomon who was enabled by God to build the temple in Jerusalem in which the people could draw near to God.

Great as those individual kings were, the psalm would be irrelevant for us if it only concerned them. They were only on their thrones for forty years each, and once they had died it would not be possible to sing about them as actually present (or raised up by the Lord). Instead they pointed to a greater king that the Lord would raise up in the future – the Messiah. So, in a sense, the psalm is a prophecy of what would happen when he would come.

We sing the psalm after he has come, or perhaps we should say that we sing the psalm between his first and second comings. Another way to look at it is to regard all that Jesus did on earth, all that he is now doing in heaven, and all he will do at his future appearing as belonging to his coming. God has raised up Jesus for the purpose of providing salvation, and his salvation has those past, present and future elements in it.

How was Jesus raised up? (v. 14)

In order to illustrate what happened to the Saviour we can contrast him with the two kings of Israel that we have just mentioned. First, in what ways are there pictures of Jesus in the experience of David?  We can think about three of them.

To begin with, David was like Jesus in that he was raised from obscurity in Bethlehem and brought to the attention of the public. This was the beginning of the process by which he would come to be on the throne of Israel a few years later. Jesus also came from obscurity, that place being Nazareth where he had lived for thirty years before he became well-known in Israel after his baptism. This was part of the process by which he would come to be on the throne of heaven after his ascension there from Bethany.

Further, David had to overcome all the attempts of a powerful enemy (Saul) to get rid of him. Again and again Saul tried to destroy David. Jesus, of course, faced a far more powerful enemy than Saul – Jesus had to battle with the devil and resist his malice, whether in his direct tempting or in his stimulating cruel verbal and physical assaults. This too was part of the process by which he would come to be on the throne of God.

Moreover, David had to engage in warfare after he had reached the throne. He had to move from defeating opponents within Israel to leading campaigns against her enemies from outside. And in this set of campaigns after his enthronement in Jerusalem he also depicts Jesus who after his enthronement in heaven continues to fight against those who oppose his kingdom. He has been raised up for this.

When we think of Solomon, we can see three ways in which he illustrates the King who was greater than he. First, Solomon is renowned for his wisdom, which he asked God for. When we turn to Luke’s account of the childhood of Jesus we see that his wisdom is stressed. Luke says that Jesus grew in wisdom, and no doubt he prayed for it to be given to him. It is interesting the stress that James, the brother of Jesus, makes on the importance of praying for wisdom. Perhaps he had seen Jesus pray for it often.

Second, Solomon is a picture of Jesus in that he erected the temple in which God would be worshipped by his people. Solomon built an earthly temple whereas Jesus is building a spiritual temple. In the earthly temple, sacrifices were a major aspect of its worship and in the heavenly temple the sacrifice of Jesus is central. Despite its greatness, the temple of Solomon was marked by weaknesses that revealed themselves in time. In contrast, the temple Jesus is forming, composed of all his people, will develop for ever.

Third, Solomon is like Jesus in that he provided peace for his subjects. The early years of Solomon’s reign were wonderful ones as his kingdom expanded. Yet sadly he changed and his kingdom disintegrated. The kingdom of Jesus is very different. Peace is experienced within it at different levels and in its future state, in the new heavens and new earth, abundant peace will be the permanent experience of all who will live there.

Both David and Solomon were raised up by God to rule his kingdom. But neither of them was the real king who would rule consistently and perfectly for ever. Despite their prominence they would confess their pleasure at being subjects of his kingdom and today they join in his praise in heaven.

2. How are God’s people described?

The psalmist mentions that believers are those who are near to God (v. 14). In one sense, this description points to their proximity to him in contrast to those who are far from him because of their sinful lives. Believers today have been brought near to God by the blood of Christ and have access to his presence.

The concept of nearness also indicates how precious they are in God’s sight. A person usually puts their valuables in a safe place. The safest place possible is the presence of God. Paul reminds us that our lives are hid with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). In his presence God places those who are precious to him because of the price paid for their redemption.

Connected to the thought of their preciousness is the amazing fact that they, although sinners, give pleasure to God. Because they have been redeemed by the Son and renewed by the Spirit they can live holy, devoted lives that delight their heavenly Father. Even when they confess their sins they bring delight to him.

So our proximity to his presence, our preciousness in his sight and the delight we bring together indicate the blessing of being brought near to God. The response by those who have this blessing is to call on everything to praise him.

3. Who and what are to praise?

We can see from the psalm that almost everything in the universe is called on to praise God. The psalmist begins by calling on the residents of heaven to declare his greatness (vv. 1-2). Given that this form of praise is continuous, we are not to imagine the psalmist as asking them to commence praising. Instead he is urging them to continue doing so, not because he imagines that they are about to stop, but because he realises that the Lord is worthy of continuous praise. I suppose we can say that the psalmist himself has been enjoying their praise of his God now for centuries in heaven. But we on earth should have the same longing as he had, that the residents in heaven would continue to praise their God.

The psalmist then calls on the planets and stars to praise God (vv. 3-6). Perhaps he is refuting idolatry because pagans often worshipped those planets and stars. Instead of being worshipped they actually worship. But in what ways do they worship because they cannot think about God or sing to him. They demonstrate praise by fulfilling the function of their creation, which is to enable a place where his intelligent creatures can worship him.

Then the psalmist calls on creatures of the sea, land and air to worship God (vv. 7-10). He links with them phenomena that occur in connection to the weather as well as vegetation and fruit. I suspect the point that the psalmist is making is that all of life, no matter where it is or what is happening, is under the control of God. It looks as if he had read the chapters in the Book of Job in which the Lord takes his servant on a tour of creation and shows to him how everything is fulfilling the purpose designed for it. Apparently, there is a big storm coming today, but in doing so it fulfils his word. In the coming weeks of winter we will see hail, snow and mist, and when we do we should recall that they are under his control. And when they happen, remember the big picture of how at that moment all the creatures on this planet are under his control and praise him for his power.

The fourth set that the psalmist addresses is every person living on the earth, whatever their status and age. It looks as the psalmist had grasped the fact that they could do so, which means he was not a racist. Nor did he want to limit the praise to those who were his social equals. He did not believe in a gender divide either, nor was there to be a generation gap. Is the psalmist indicating that the best way to remove those barriers is to praise God together?

There is a hint here of the evangelistic calling of God’s people to be a light to the nations. Israel had been called to do so, but had failed. Instead they used God’s grace to them as a reason for keeping away from the nations. It is possible for us to do the same. Yet we should want as many as possible to praise our great God.

We can almost imagine this psalm being sung in Eden by Adam and Eve. The psalmist almost describes paradise. Yet we should not think that he is merely looking back to what we lost. In addition, we should see him as looking ahead to the new heavens and new earth when creation will be restored by the Horn raised up by God to bring great blessings to his people.